A Little Of This And A Little Of That

With the Memorial Day weekend upon us, we are officially in the tourist season here on the OBX.
People and vehicles everywhere. I am sticking close to home for a couple of days until things settle down a bit.
I noticed that the price of gas was around the 2.65 mark a couple of days ago. Veronica told me that it was up to $3.05 as of last night. I really dislike it when people take advantage of others just to make a profit.
Jacking up the cost of gas just because the tourists are in town really rubs me the wrong way.
Speaking of gas...I am on strike against BP due to their oil rig disaster. Shame on you BP. You will never see another cent of mine!!!
On a happier note....been spending some time doing research on our upcoming Baltic Capitals cruise that is in September.
Ordered some Euros through Bank Of America. We got them at a great time. The Euro is at the lowest point than it has been for at least 16 months.
We stocked up on Euros. We figure that what we don't use, we can hang onto for a visit to Paris sometime in the future. Might as well get the Euros when they are down since we will be needing them anyways.
We still need to get some Krones for Denmark and some Swedish Krona. We won't be needing too much of those...just enough to get us through a day in each country.
The good thing is that what we don't use, we can take to the bank and get it exchanged back into US currency. We will do this with the Krones and Krona.
I ordered us some maps of Tallinn, Estonia and of Copenhagen. Got them in the mail this last week so now I can kind of get an idea on where we want to go and the best way to get there.
Been going on my walks on a daily basis..most times a couple of times a day.
With the help of some new medication that I am taking, the last time I checked, I had lost 7 pounds in about a week.
I still have a long ways to go but I am happy with the progress that I have made so far.

Cleaning Your Computer Monitor Screen

I know that I don't clean my computer monitor screen very often. It is one of those jobs that I just don't think about doing unless I happen to be writing my name in the accumulated dust that has built up on it since the last time I broke into a sweat cleaning it...probably was a decade ago.
And forget about trying to do the inside off the monitor screen.
Now THAT is a real pain in the arse.
My friend John Jakobs passed onto me, this painless way of getting the inside of the screen as clean as clean can be. I can't believe how simple it has always been to get this job done.
Just click HERE and please be patient.
Thanks John for sharing this handy tip on handling one of those less desirable jobs.

Cruising In A Cadillac

My friend John Jakobs, from up in Vermilion Bay Canada, was down in the Florida Keys for vacation recently.
He and his wife went down there to do some fishing.
One day while he was fishing near or under a bridge, this vehicle went cruising by.
Who says that VW Bugs were the only cars that could float.
Thanks for sharing John.

Day 8 And End Of Our 2010 Alaska Cruise Vacation

This morning we docked in Seattle. Veronica and I had previously packed our suitcases and enrolled our luggage in the NCL Bags Program. For $20 a person, you provide NCL with all of your return flight information, you pack your luggage and leave it out in the hallway before retiring for the evening. NCL will pick up the luggage and take care of getting it to the airport and getting it all checked in. You will see your luggage upon getting to your final destination. Any luggage charges levied by the airlines will be applied to your onboard account. This program works out great, especially if your flight isn't until later on in the day and you want to walk around and check out the sites in Seattle..which is what we did for a while.

What's a trip to Seattle without visiting Pikes Place Market

Great seafood rules supreme in this market

It was Mothers Day so the were flower stalls jammed packed with flowers everywhere

These mini watermelons could fit in the palm of your hand

Those King Crab legs sure look good

These shrimp wre huge...biggest that I have ever seen

Homemade pasta bar..dried pasta of all types...including chocolate pasta

Lookws like they had a little fish art going on here

These dyed flowers looked beautiful

Assorted signage and funny stuff in the area

We stayed in Seattle for several hours and then headed to the airport. Because our flight did not leave Seattle until 10:35 that night, we settled down in a quiet place in the airport. We landed in Norfolk airport around 9:00 the next morning and from there a 1 1/2 hour drive home. With that drive, our 2010 Alaska cruise vacation came to an end. Our next big adventure will be this upcoming September, when Veronica and I will be heading to Europe for a 12 day Baltic Capitals cruise on the NCL Sun.

To see all of the other photos aned videos that did not make on my blog, please click on the "ALL Alaska 2010 Vacation Cruise Photographs and Videos" link. This link is on the upper right hand portion of my blogs main page.

Day 7 Of Our 2010 Alaska Cruise Vacation - Victoria, BC

Today we arrived in Victoria, BC around 6PM. We were only going to be in port for about 5 hours. This is definitely not enough time to take all of the great sites that this city offers. Victoria is about as beautiful of a city as you will find anywhere. The architecture of both businesses and homes, along with its residents, are quite diverse. Everywhere you look, it is crisp and clean. They really take pride in everything that they have and do. If you ever have a chance to visit the city, plan on spending several days to discover all of the beauty that is Victoria. You won't regret it. The photos that I took, do not do this city justice but it will give you a general idea of what I am speaking of.
As we were getting close to Victoria, a pilot boat approached the Pearl. This pilot boat transferred a pilot onto the Pearl to assist the cruise ship into port.

Below are 3 videos of the pilot boat from the time it approached the Pearl, transferred the pilot onto the Pearl and then the pilot boat leaving the area

Here is an Holland America ship that was already in port when we arrived

Here is the inner harbor, full of boats and flowers along with lots of people walking along the harbor walkway

A water taxi..we saw several of these puttering by

The Parliament Building

This is the Empress Hotel...oldest hotel in Victoria. They have the old section and then a new section. This year we walked into the old section at first...the architecture was great and the shops inside were great...especially a tea shop I found inside

More photos of the inner harbor area

Entertainment along the inner harbor walkway. Last year we saw all kinds of street entertainers in Victoria. This year there were not as many...a good saxophonist.....Darth Vader playing a violin...yes you read that correctly and we also saw Superman and Superwoman walking down the street. Victoria has quite an eclectic mix of people living there and everywhere we walk, the smell of food cooking was everywhere.

I took a lot of architecture photos this time around

The ivy growing on the side of the Empress Hotel

A fountain outside of the newer section of the hotel

Spring flowers were in full bloom around the city

They had some really interesting stores, bars and restaurants in Victoria. I really wished we had more time to spend in this city

Here is the top portion of a lighthouse

The Parliament Building

The streets were rather easy to cross. Traffic was minimal the night we were there

Inner Harbor and walkway...Parliament Building in the background and the Empress Hotel is just off camera to the left

Another water taxi

Statue commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Canadian Navy. The statue and stone memorial had only been in place about a week when we saw it.

Unfortunately this was the last port of call for this cruise. Upon our return to our ship, we went to a huge Chocolate Buffet that the ship puts on. The most choclate desserts that I have ever seen in one place at one time. Tomorrow we return to Seattle.